Software Designer in Orange County, CA

People across America are excited that Verizon Wireless is getting the iPhone. AT&T has been blamed for network problems that prevent current iPhone owners from being able to do just about anything on their wireless network, like making a phone call. But I'm not so sure Verizon will be all that better, and I blame the iPhone itself.

I seriously think there's a fundamental problem with the iPhone itself, and how it is made.

Let's face it, there's a reason cell phone makers have never built a cell phone with the same type of materials Apple has: reception problems. If you look closely, you'll realize that the majority of people who complain about AT&T's network problems have an iPhone. People with other types of phones don't complain nearly as much about getting dropped, or not being able to place a call altogether.

When it comes to data speeds and connectivity, if you try to complete the same action on an iPhone as with any other smartphone (on the same network), there's a good chance the other phone will finish first. This happened to me the other day. I was with a buddy in downtown LA and went to check traffic on my iPhone with Google Maps. I couldn't get anything to load. (Same with my iPad, by the way.) Absolutely nothing. Zilch. He pulled out his Windows-powered Samsung Focus and Google Maps and traffic loaded instantly.

For this reason, I am skeptical that the iPhone on Verizon will perform significantly better than its AT&T counterpart.

I'm not saying AT&T doesn't have their issues. They do, and they have plenty. But I think Apple's problems are far worse than anyone would like to think.

(This problem extends to other Apple products, as well. Anyone who has used a Mac laptop knows that the range on the internal wireless card is far inferior to other laptop makers due to the metal casing. And yet, somehow, Apple has managed to dodge blame for that as well. While Apple makes "pretty" products, their aesthetics come at a price.)

I base my reasoning on my own hunch and experiences, and no published facts or statistics. I'd be interested in hearing what you think.

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I want to start this post by saying that I'm a fan of cops. I respect them greatly for what they do, and the police in my area are extremely fair and honest in their dealings with people who reciprocate respect. I've been called a snitch before. I've also helped solve a case or two with footage from my outdoor office security cameras.

But when it comes to officers conducting speed traps, especially with cops on motorcycles, I hold a completely different opinion. Catching a speeder who is clearly driving reckless and endangering lives (or those who speed around schools) is one thing, but cops who hide out, waiting for a driver who is slightly over the speed limit is another thing. And that's what's been happening this week in Tustin, a quiet little town in the heart of Orange County.

Yesterday I was driving to my office and received a citation from the "random taxation crew" (don't worry, mom, I wasn't driving any faster than you normally do). I wasn't driving recklessly - I was just doing my normal thing, as most people do (very few people actually drive the speed limit - they're absurdly slow for today's day and age). The only problem was, there weren't many people around, and I was a sitting duck.

In the last 24 hours, I have seen at least 5 people get pulled over by motorcycle cops.

If this were a normal routine - cops nabbing people all the time for speeding - it would be one thing. But they clearly have a campaign going on this week to ticket as many people as they can.

My beef is with the lack of inconsistency. If you're not going to enforce something on a regular basis, don't bother enforcing it at all. Rather than stopping upstanding citizens who are going through their normal routine, why don't you go fight the real crime that happens all the time in the alleyways and dark corners of your jurisdiction?

So to be a "good neighbor," I decided I'd hang a sign warning drivers of the upcoming speed trap.

Who knows how long it will last, but if I can help one honest person avoid a ticket, it will have paid off.

One of the best parts of buying small electronics straight from China is the joy of trying to understand the product packaging. The words make sense, but they're never in the right order for the English language. It's like they use Google Translate to get their copy into English, rather than hiring an interpreter.

Here are a few shots off the box of a remote control helicopter I got for Christmas.

And if you haven't seen them yet, last year I posted a few shots from the box for a remote control plane here that I think are even funnier.

Many Mac users talk about how "everything just works." For me, this has never been my experience with any Apple product. Ever. I finally realized why: because I don't do everything their way.

Today I had to get a replacement iPhone from Apple. When I restored the backup of my phone to my new device, I was frustrated to discover none of my apps synced, among a litany of other odds and ends. As it turns out, this was because I didn't have "Sync Apps" checked within iTunes.

Despite the fact that I "backed up" my iPhone, I got screwed because I didn't submit to Apple's entire - and narrow - use case. (Also, Apple failed to explain that a "backup" doesn't actually back everything up.)

So to the rest of you who have a habit of going your own way and not following all the "rules" - or in this case, letting Apple manage everything for you - look out. Because if you don't drink ALL of the Apple Kool-Aid, you too might find yourself in a world of hurt.

Skype had some technical difficulties today. So far, they've been mostly down for 10 hours. A couple weeks ago, Tumblr was down for two days straight.

When things go wrong, people make a stink. And quickly. While it's reasonable to be upset when our favorite websites go down, people often overreact. Some run their mouth about how angry they are; others threaten to move to a competing service. I find the sense of entitlement that people claim, to be both comical and depressing at the same time.

So the next time your favorite online service goes down, here's what I propose: Go outside, get some fresh air, and realize that a few years ago, this awesome technology that you rely on didn't even exist. We are blessed to live in an age where we can communicate with people across the world in realtime. Our grandparents would have killed for that.

As hard as we try, things will never be perfect. So instead of just complaining, let's try to look on the bright side once in a while.

Internet startup acquisition prices keep trending upward. A few years ago, Myspace sold to News Corp for $580 million. Then YouTube sold to Google for $1.6 billion. At that point, that $1.6 billion price tag was unheard of. That came shortly after Facebook rejected an offer from Yahoo! for $1 billion.

More recently, Groupon supposedly rejected a rumored $6 billion acquisition from Google. Then Foursquare rejected an offer for $140 million. Heroku just got acquired by Salesforce.com for $212 million in cash. It's pretty incredible that these websites have managed to create such a large perceived value in such a short amount of time.

The companies that have chosen to stay on their own - mainly the more "fringe" web apps like Groupon and Foursquare - make me wonder if it will be worth it for them in the long run. It makes sense for a company like Facebook, who has managed to put themselves in the center of the internet, but for companies like Groupon or Foursquare, I'm not so sure. Sometimes I wonder if they rejected these large offers because of an inflated sense of self-worth, or because they think they'll be able to make themselves worth 10x that in a few years.

Time will tell.

I'm sure the hot shots like Groupon and Foursquare have great plans for their companies, but it will be interesting to watch them, and to see if their multi-million dollar - or in Groupon's case, multi-billion dollar - gambles pay off.

As much as startups are the culmination of dreams that these founders have, if I was offered a large sum of money for something I built, I can't say I wouldn't cash out, go buy a mansion and a yacht, and enjoying life for a little while.

So I guess kudos to these companies who believe in themselves, think they'll be able to accomplish greater things in the next few years, and to those who don't see money as the end goal in life.

So it's true. iOS 4.2 was released today, and as rumored, the iPad version changes the orientation lock switch into a mute button. I have to say, this was a pretty stupid move.

While nobody knows why Apple made this change, it's safe to assume they made it a mute button to be more consistent with the iPhone's ringer/vibrate toggle switch. But this makes absolutely no sense, and here's why: BECAUSE THE IPAD DOESN'T RING OR VIBRATE! You can easily mute an iPad by holding down the "down" side of the volume rocker for about a second.

The only other thing I can think of is that they have something planned for future iPads that would incorporate a vibrate feature, or maybe video calling that would make the device ring. Regardless, Apple should make this decision an option, and not decide this for us. They especially shouldn't be taking away a feature that users have already grown accustomed to.

And yes, I know the orientation lock is built-in to the software, but it's not nearly as convenient to get to anymore. And I'm not the only one who thinks this way. All you have to do is Google "ipad orientation mute button" to see how upset people are with this change (look at comments on every blog post written about this).

It's pretty disappointing that Apple would make a move like this. It's one thing to not release a feature for a year or two. It's something totally different to take one away. I'm sticking with the old OS until Apple either makes this an option or the jailbreakers come to our rescue.

I use a lot of online products and services in my daily life, many of which I now rely on. I thought I'd take a minute to highlight a few of my favorites.

YouMail

YouMail is my voicemail provider, and happens to be located right down the freeway from me. Even though I have an iPhone and could choose to use Visual Voicemail, YouMail is so much better. Not only does it transcribe my voicemail and send a text message letting me know, but it can also transcribe messages and email me the transcriptions or even the MP3 of the voicemail itself.

Youmail also has plenty of other useful features like personalized recordings for different people and you can even greet callers by the name recognized on caller ID.

The weakest part of YouMail is their web interface. It kind of looks like it was made in 2001 (hint hint: we should talk!). But the service is great and an outdated-looking interface isn't going to keep me from the great service they provide.

Outright is service for small business owners that takes the hassle out of bookkeeping and figuring out taxes. It handles the collection of tax forms from contractors automatically and does all the expected stuff like connecting to bank accounts for easy record-keeping.

Shoeboxed is, without a doubt, the easiest way to manage receipts. They give you an email address that you can send digital receipts to. Their system automatically parses what you send them and figured out the total, payee, and category the receipt belongs in. You can also scan paper receipts into the system.

On top of that, they also have a mail-in service that lets customers send in receipts and lets them deal with the hassle of scanning. I plan on sending my first batch of gas receipts (among others) to them today. It also plays nicely with many accounting programs, including Outright.

I doubt the need to even mention Dropbox. Everybody I know uses them. I've written about them previously here. Dropbox is a service that backs up and syncs files on your computer between your other computers. When I save a file on one computer, Dropbox instantly backs up the file online and syncs the updates with my other computers. Wherever I go, I always have the latest versions of whatever I'm working on. Dropbox is one of the most important things to happen to computing in the last decade.